I was a no fault passenger in a car that met with an accident more than 5 years back in April. The car was totaled and all the passengers were seriously injured and rushed to the emergency ward of Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in an ambulance. I suffered severe permanent injuries including herniated discs.
An MRI was conducted and certified by a Radiologist confirming that I suffered from herniated discs. All State refused to settle my claim even though both the drivers that met with the accident carried All State Insurance policies. I spent several months going to doctors for treatment and my total medical expenses were around $25,000 of which I paid around $12,500 and the balance was paid by my insurance providers. Finally I was left with no choice but to appoint a lawyer to represent me.
Taking advantage of section 1:6 (c), one and half year after the accident All State appointed a lawyer for one of their drivers to respond. Section 1:6 (c) states that a case cannot be filed unless the plaintiff attorney personally conferred orally or has made a specifically described good faith attempt to confer orally with the attorney for the opposing party in order to resolve the issues raised by the motion by agreement or consent order and attorney for the opposing party by letter, after the default has occurred, that continued non-compliance with a discovery obligation will result in an appropriate motion being made without further attempt to resolve the matter. I attended the deposition and was sent to a doctor of the defense (All State's choice) whom them claimed was an independent medical examiner. He examined me for less than five minutes. I wrote to All State complaining about the manner in which I was examined marking a copy to their defense attorney's requesting to be re-examined but they refused.
Two and a half years after the accident, All State Insurance appointed another lawyer to represent the other driver to conduct a deposition and send me to the same doctor. He also invoked section 1:6 (c).
The matter was set for arbitration around 3 to 4 years after the accident and the arbitrator who also happned to be a judge in the court gave an award in my favor and All State had to pay damanges.
All State refused to accept the judgement neither in letter or spirit and insisted on contesting the award in in court. The Doctor who was their expert witness admitted in court that he represents 85 to 95% of the time the Defense (like All State Insurance Company) and acknowledged that his name appeared in Lawyers brochures/flyers with statements that they have him as their attorney in order to get favorable legal/medical decisions. He also admitted that even though he is a full time doctor, he has testified for the defense before almost (if not all) 20 judges in the Middlesex county court, NJ and in almost all 21 counties and most civil court judges in NJ. He charged the defense attorneys (who were appointed by All State Insurance) $6,000 for the testimony and $1450 for examining me 2 times and reading my MRI and evaluating my medical report. He was at pains to clearly state where he got certified to read an MRI that my herniated disc (for which I had an an MRI done and confirmed by a Radiologist) was in fact a degenerated disc.
I lost the case because I had to win by a 5-1 majority and was not allowed to use the word All State or insurance in order to give the impression to the jury felt that I was suing the drivers and not All State. The defense attorney's made a big issue of the fact that I went to see a Chiropractic on the fourth working day after the accident. I was prescribed medication at the emergency ward of the RWJ Hospital for 7 days but they used it as a pretext to buttress their case.
All State preferred to pay the Doctor who earns his living more as a professional witness than a doctor $7,450 and the Defense Attorneys whose area of specialization is on such cases, rather than pay an injured passenger in a no fault where both their drivers were at fault in order to deter plaintiff attorneys from defending their clients.
As a result, one of the passengers in the same car that met with the accident and had 17 staples on her head and fractured ribs and herniated discs preferred not to attend the court hearing out of frustration and All State won by default. It took more than five years for the matter to come to trial, thanks to All State and their Defense Attorneys. I lost around 20 to 30 days from work going repeatedly to the court and the case getting postponed. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Gerry
Plainsboro, New Jersey
U.S.A.
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